The goings on of a craft obsessed, married, mother to be, and all that falls in between.

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Quick and simple cowl scarf

Well, chilly weather calls for “cool” attire. (Pardon the pun… We’ve had a lazy morning, so I’m prone to dumb jokes.) I was inspired to knit this quick and simple cowl due to the ridiculously freezing weather we’ve been enjoying lately here in the Denver area (it’s been a balmy 7 degrees here the last couple days). As well as this link I came across on pinterest.

Now, I don’t know about most people, but I find that I LOVE scarves. So much so that I seem to just keep collecting them…like a young boy collects baseball cards. But, my one problem is that I have difficulty knowing exactly how to wrap them, so I always just end up wrapping it around my neck in a careless way, throwing fashion to the wind… With this project, I have completely eliminated the guessing game of how to wrap a scarf.

This project is so incredibly simple. How simple? So simple a beginner can master this and feel an incredible sense of accomplishment. It can be as elaborate, or as simple as you want it to be. It’s a great way to try out new knitting stitches, so if you are ready to move onto more complicated stitches (rather than just doing a simple knit or purl stitch) this is a great way to try them out. You are also knitting in the round with this project. It sounds intimidating, and the needles even look a little intimidating. But, once you get over that, it is easier than straight knitting because there are no seams to connect. Casting on is the only thing done differently than in straight knitting. I found a great tutorial on how to cast on here. However, if you find videos are better than just pictures, there are plenty of you tube videos to help.

My most favorite thing about this cowl scarf is that it takes almost no time at all! I have the attention span of a five year old, so I had to take a few breaks to, you know, do nothing at all. But, even with breaks, it took me about 4-5 hours to complete my cowl.

This makes a great last minute gift of any kind, and is completely customizable because you can choose any color you want, and either a heavy weight yarn for a bulkier cowl, or a light weight yarn for a less bulky one. You can also choose the length of the cowl. Knitting needles in the round come in different lengths. For mine, I chose 29″ long needles, but I also have the 36″ long ones. (one thing to keep in mind is to make sure you use the right needles for the yarn you choose. My first attempt I didn’t do this, and let’s just say that it turned out about as pretty as…well, you get the idea.)

All you need for this project is:

one skein of yarn – any color, any weight

coordinating sized knitting needles in the round (based off what is required for the yarn – shown here is a size 10)

That’s it! Easy peasy.

I cast on 59 stitches because I wanted something a bit looser/bigger. The only thing is that you will want to cast on in odd numbered stitches. The amount of stitches will dictate the size of the project.

Once you’ve cast on and are knitting away – the size(height) of the project can be as long as you want them. I used a whole skein of yarn because I wanted a long(tall) cowl. But, there are so many variations of what all you can do that it really is taster’s choice.

Once you are all done, and cast off and the tails are tucked away , you should end up with something like this:

I wanted something a little different so I purposefully twisted my needles. if you don’t want yours to look like this, all you have to do is make sure that your stitches don’t twist.

And that’s it! The quick, easy and don’t forget affordable, cowl. Altogether, this project cost me $7.49 for the needles, and around $5.50 for the yarn. So, for $13.00-ish, I got a better-than-store-bought cowl, and learned a new technique.

This is my first try at keeping up my new year’s resolution of doing one craft per week and keeping up with blogging about it. I am also going to add a twist to this! For the first six months of the year, each project I do will be under $25.00 in total cost. That’s right. I’ve got some inspiration from pinterest, but if you have any projects that you would like me to try, let me know!